THE KILLING OF senior citizens, particularly women, is continuing in the city despite some steps initiated by the police and non-governmental organisations to check attacks on elderly people.

The killing of 60-year-old Subbarathnamma in Girinagar police station limits on Thursday has once again highlighted that senior citizens have become soft targets of criminals in the "pensioners' paradise."

The trend of attacking senior citizens began in 2000 and in the past four years, more than 20 elderly people have been murdered in the city. Though the police claim these to be isolated incidents, their regularity has created a fear in the public mind. Further, most of these murders have remained unsolved.

The killing of elderly women has been mainly reported from the limits of the Central division police. On July 26, 2004, Nandini Rao (79) was stabbed to death at her house in Cubbon Park police station limits and the assailants are still at large.

On May 5, 2001, Meena Rasquinha (75) and her maid, Prema Mary (65), were found stabbed to death in the former's house on Convent Road in Ashoknagar police station limits. On November 2, 2001, Narasmma (64), wife of a retired police sub-inspector, was murdered at her house in Nehrunagar in Seshadripuram police station limits.

Delcy Vaz (78), who was facing a threat to her life and had been given police protection, was murdered at her bungalow on St. Mark's Road in Cubbon Park police station limits on September 4, 2002.

On April 3, 2004, two elderly sisters, Indu Rajagopal and Malathi Rao, were smothered to death in their 7th floor flat in a posh apartment complex, next to the High Grounds police station. All these murders, which were reported from Central division police, have remained unsolved. Likewise, the police are yet to trace the killers of three elderly women, Sari Bai and Thangammal of Ulsoor and Jayadevamma of K.R. Puram in the East division.

In August 2001, Shankaraiah (91) and his daughter-in-law, Padmaja, were hacked to death at their house in Vijayanagar police station limits. On August 29, 2002, Nirmala (55) and her daughter, Rajeshwari, were clubbed to death at the Customs officials' quarters in Madivala police station limits. In two cases of murder for gain, H. Rajagopalachar (80), a retired teacher, was stabbed to death at his house in SVK Layout in Kurabarahalli in Basaveshwaranagar police station limits on February 22, 2002, and Keshava Prabhu (78), a retired employee of the Police Department, was strangled at his house in Nandini Layout on March 7, 2002. All these cases have also remained undetected.

Ramakrishna (71) in Ulsoor, Manjula (65) in Basavanagudi, Nagarthnamma (60) in Chamarajpet, and Siddaiah (65) in MICO Layout, were stabbed to death within a span of 20 days from October 11, 2001 to November 2, 2001. A few months later, the police arrested members of the notorious Dandupalya gang on charges of committing these murders.